CATALYST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Oncology Drug Development
Andrew has focused exclusively in oncology for over 20 years and serves as the VP of Oncology Drug Development for Catalyst. He is a cell & molecular biologist with a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a B.S. from MIT, and leads Catalyst's full-service oncology solution, supporting study optimization, delivery oversight, training and new initiatives across the commercial and operational teams to keep Catalyst at the forefront of industry trends and cutting-edge oncology therapies. Bringing a broad base of oncology experience to Catalyst, Andrew began his professional career at a niche oncology CRO, Prologue Research, which was founded out of what became the James Cancer Center at The Ohio State University and acquired in 2010 by Novella Clinical. At Novella, Andrew led the growth of the organization's oncology division into a market-leading oncology specialty CRO. After the acquisition of Novella by Quintiles, Andrew spent nearly seven years working within the standalone CRO which was subsequently rebranded to IQVIA Biotech in 2019. Andrew enjoys a wide range of extracurricular activities from coaching a local travel baseball team (he played in college), cheering his son on who is a goalie for the AAA Blue Jackets (Andrew can't skate), sneaking away for the occasional video game (he's terrible at Fortnite), and being impressed by his daughter's musical, dance and engineering talents (he can neither confirm nor deny the existence of some video of his a cappella group from college). Andrew lives in Columbus, Ohio with his amazing wife Brooke and their 2 kids, where they enjoy family time, travel, and any game they can get their hands on.
Dr. Jeff Kasher is a pharmaceutical development executive with more than 30 years of experience. He focused on improving clinical outcomes, bringing patients and research sites into the drug development process, and decreasing time to market. He is a top 20 Innovators Changing the Face of the Clinical Trials Industry and was recognized on The Medicine Maker Power List 2015.
Jeff spent 28 years at Eli Lilly and Company serving in various leadership positions, including VP of Clinical Innovation and Implementation and VP and Chief Operation Officer of the Global Clinical Development Organization.
Jeff was a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Yale University School of Medicine and received a PhD, Pharmacology from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. He received a BS in Chemistry from Franklin & Marshall College. Jeff currently serves as Board Director of Javara Research, an integrated research organization, and is President of Patients Can't Wait LLC.
Jeff Edwards has over 18 years of investment experience and is a Partner at NovaQuest Capital Management. He is responsible for transaction origination, investment policy, fundraising, and the day-to-day management of NovaQuest Capital Management. In addition, he directs the Private Equity team in acquisitions, divestitures, and oversight of portfolio companies.
Prior to joining NovaQuest, Jeff co-led the Principal Investment Private Equity program at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, leading the efforts in the Healthcare and Industrial sectors across a variety of geographies. In that role, he was responsible for making investment decisions, deal origination, as well as portfolio construction and portfolio management.
Jeff's previous experience also includes M&A advisory work for Raymond James Capital Markets, focusing on middle-market companies. He also worked for State Street Global Markets (SSGM). His efforts were focused on private equity fund formation, portfolio management, and investment due diligence. Before moving back to the capital markets sector, Jeff worked in finance and administrative roles in the healthcare industry with Carolinas HealthCare Systems and HCA, Inc. He started his career with the middle market investment bank RW Baird.
Jeff received an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MSF from Boston College, and a BA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is also a CAIA Charter Holder.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Quality and Vendor Management
John is responsible for vendor oversight and the Catalyst quality management system. John has previously worked in a variety of clinical research organizations, from small start-ups to a large global firm, and has experience in both corporate roles and operational functions ranging from study startup to medical writing. As the quality champion for Catalyst, John has embraced the company's people-first approach, believing quality begins with well trained, motivated and ethical employees who approach every client project with urgency and care.
John and his wife Allison try to live by three simple rules - work hard, play hard and Die Hard (the Christmas movie). John strives to keep pace with his ambitious young adult daughters, Maggie and Rosie, while also meeting the exercise and affection demands of his Poodle-Aussie mixes, Otis and Oscar. Now living amongst the fan bases of the Tar Heels, Blue Devils and Wolfpack, John remains an ardent supporter of his alma mater, the Virginia Cavaliers. Go Wahoos!
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Europe Commercial
A time proven project leader and line manager with 30 years' industry experience in UK and Sweden. During his career he has worked across a broad range of disciplines, including clinical, laboratory and sales and marketing. This spans numerous therapeutic areas, including respiratory, oncology, CNS, infection and ophthalmology. Since co-founding Aptus Clinical, Jonathan has helped build the business and grow the client portfolio.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Executive and Leader
- Senior Vice President, Resourcing Operations
Kathy is a clinical research executive and leader with more than 25 years' experience in large and small CROs, as well as pharmaceutical and government research companies. She started her career as a pharmaceutical sales rep in 1989 and entered the CRO industry in 1997. Kathy has served in a variety of leadership roles throughout her career, including President of Trio Clinical Research; Co-Founder and Managing Partner of INNO Clinical Outcomes; Executive Director of Source at Chiltern International; Executive Director of Business Operations at Triangle Biostatistics (now part of Catalyst); as well as Vice President of Growth Strategy and now Senior Vice President of Resourcing at Catalyst Clinical Research. Kathy holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in management from North Carolina State University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Clinical Development Operations
Keya is responsible for the quality and delivery of the clinical trial portfolio within the Catalyst CRO services business unit. Throughout her 22-year career in clinical research with both biopharma and clinical service providers, Keya has provided oversight of multidisciplinary teams in project management, clinical monitoring and site support services. She also served as an executive in both operational and commercial roles and has been involved in several complex, global trials in various therapeutic areas and phases with a concentration on hematology and oncology programs. Keya prides herself on building and managing high-functioning teams that deliver excellence while ultimately bringing meaningful therapies to patients in need. Previously, she served as vice president of clinical operations at Clinipace, senior vice president of clinical services at WIRB-Copernicus Group, senior vice president at ePharmaSolutions and executive vice president of clinical development at Omnicare Clinical Research. When she isn't supporting customers fighting cancer, Keya enjoys spending time with her husband and two teenage sons and taking long rides with her husband on their Harley motorcycles. Vroom, vroom.
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Senior Vice President, Medical & Safety
Lisa is our CMO and leads Medical and Safety at Catalyst Clinical Research. Board-certified in internal medicine, Lisa was in private medical practice for seven years before joining the industry as a medical director at a major CRO. She advanced to managing the global medical monitoring group and subsequently led multiple business units including Pharmacovigilance and Medical, Medical Communications and Early Development. Lisa earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Texas A&M at Kingsville and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. She completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Arizona. Lisa enjoys paddle boarding, snowboarding, playing guitar and working in the garden as she believes there is a farmer in each and every one of us.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, People & Culture
Marshall brings almost 30 years of experience in large multi-national companies and small operations to Catalyst. He has extensive global experience including an expatriate assignment to the UK, as well as mergers and acquisitions experience across multiple countries. The majority of his career has been in and around the pharmaceutical/drug development industries. Marshall's early career was in research with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company. His focus was on structure-based drug design and his scientific work resulted in six US patents. He transitioned into the decision sciences group at Lilly where the focus was on decision and risk analysis. He ultimately transitioned into Human Resources where he has remained. His career included roles at Wilmington-based aaiPharma and GE Nuclear before he ended up at PPD. Skelton has a BS in Chemistry from Furman University, an MS in Chemistry from the University of Georgia, and an MBA from the University of Indianapolis.
Marshall and his wife Vivian have three children and are dedicated to causes in and around Wilmington. He is actively involved in Port City Community Church and was on the board for many years, including 2 years as chairman of the board. He served on the foundation board for Lower Cape Fear Hospice; including a stint as chairman. He is currently on the board for the Friends of the New Hanover County Arboretum where he serves as treasurer. Other past roles include the UNCW Cameron School of Business International Advisory Board, the Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and a participant in Leadership Wilmington 2007. Marshall is also an NC State Extension Master Gardner and is a PADI Rescue Scuba Diver.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Strategy & Solutions
Melissa has over 25 years of sales, operations, and strategy development experience across multiple industries including clinical research, health care consulting and technology, and health insurance. Melissa started her professional career with ClinTrials Research before moving to SAS Institute where she worked for six years leading business development and proposal functions. Her most recent clinical research experience includes nearly three years leading the contracts and proposal development function at PPD. Here she created the first strategic finance team focused on developing innovative pricing models to support client partnerships. After PPD Melissa moved to UnitedHealth Group where she first worked for Optum leading the sales operations function. She also sat on the acquisition integration team supporting the integration of multiple small- to medium-sized businesses. In her last four years at UnitedHealth Group Melissa led sales operations for the Medicaid business unit and held operational leadership roles. Melissa is passionate about spending time traveling with her husband Patrick and hanging out with her three children Savanna, Grace, and Ian when they make time for her in their busy schedules. In her downtime, Melissa enjoys reading, boating, and spending time in the mountains.
Ms. Robin Smith Hoke is a seasoned pharmaceutical and healthcare executive with a passion for linking commercial strategies with innovation to drive company growth and transformation. She is results-oriented and thrives on aligning and building productive and engaged management teams.
For the past 6 years, Ms. Hoke served as President and CEO of Leiters, an FDA-registered outsourcing facility under 503B of the DQSA. Under her leadership, Leiters experienced a growth rate exceeding 1200% and a successful sale to a private equity (PE) financial sponsor.
Prior, at Cardinal Health, her roles included Senior Vice President of Global Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, Generic Pharmaceuticals, and General Counsel for the pharmaceutical technologies & services business segment. She also held legal roles at Abbott Laboratories and was Partner in the business law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter, Co., L.P.A.
Ms. Hoke has served on several private and public boards, including Ricerca Biosciences, a PE-backed, pre-clinical CRO, and Camargo Pharmaceuticals, LLC., a global 505B2 specialty services company. Her public board experience includes Aeterna Zentaris and Oncobiologics. She currently serves on the board of AeroSafe Global, a strategic advisor to Leiters. She received her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, cum laude, and her undergraduate degrees from Michigan State University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- CEO of Catalyst Clinical Research
Nick has spent his entire career in Healthcare and Life Sciences and joined Catalyst as CEO in October 2018. After earning a bachelor's degree in London, UK in 1992, he completed a three-year postgraduate program with the National Health Service (NHS) working in various healthcare and healthcare management settings. From there, Nick went on to lead the Support Services Finance Group for a large hospital in the southern part of England. For the past 21 years, he has worked in the clinical research space with Quintiles (IQVIA) and PPD Development leading Clinical Operations, Finance, IT and Sales/Marketing functions. In 2011, he joined Novella Clinical as Chief Commercial Officer, and in 2016, he was appointed President. While there, he fervently embraced the need for therapeutically-focused CRO solutions interlaced with a flexible small biotech customer service model. Nick is passionate about soccer (aka football in his native England) and played for club, regional, school and university teams. He has passed down that love of football to his two sons, Eric and Harrison, and spends significant time coaching and watching them play. Nick also loves to cook, watch movies and read.
Nick Dyer is the CEO of Catalyst Clinical Research, LLC and has more than 21 years experience in healthcare and life sciences. Previously, Nick was President of Novella Clinical and also served as Chief Commercial Officer. At Novella, Nick fervently embraced the need for therapeutically-focused CRO solutions interlaced with a flexible, small biotech, customer service model. Nick also led clinical operations, finance, IT, and sales/marketing functions for Quintiles (IQVIA) and Pharmaceutical Product Development. Previously, Nick led a finance group for a large UK based hospital following a three-year postgraduate healthcare management program with the UK National Health Service.
Nick received a First Class Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Greenwich, London and qualified as a Chartered Public Finance Accountant in 1995.
Nik started his career as a biostatistician with Smithkline Beecham (now GSK) where he worked for 7 years before moving to join PPD. While at PPD, Nik spent four years in Project Management, leading the Hematology and Oncology portfolio for two. In 2010 he took on the global leadership role for Biostatistics and Programming (and ironically was a client/partner of Triangle Biostatistics). In 2016 Nik became Senior VP Site and Patient Access, leading the newly formed function accountable globally for selecting and activating sites and accelerating clinical trial access for patients across all therapeutic areas. In January 2020, Nik launched a new business unit focused on the design and implementation of digitally enabled and decentralized trials. The timing coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic introducing extreme demand for the solutions from this new "startup" Nik was leading and he oversaw the significant growth of that group and the establishment of those solutions. Nik joined Catalyst in April 2022 as Chief Operating Officer.
Patti brings more than 24 years of finance experience, 20 of those in the clinical research industry. She has a diverse background in financial leadership and a passion for team engagement and talent management. Patti started her professional career as a tax consultant at Deloitte & Touche LLP, then moved into the healthcare field with a senior finance role at NES, an emergency room staffing and management company. She got her start in the clinical research industry in 2000 at PPD. During her tenure there she held a variety of roles, including tax, operations finance leadership and more recently ownership of the government business unit. While at PPD Patti played an important part in the significant growth of the company, both related to adding service offering and expanding internationally. She led the globalization of finances for the clinical development business unit and partnered with business unit leadership to optimize revenue and profitability. When Patti isn't crunching numbers at Catalyst, she enjoys being outside with family and friends - first choice is beach and traveling, followed closely by anything active - volleyball, walking, pool and playing with her two yellow lab mutts. Go fetch.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Business Operations
Tim has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry holding domestic and international positions of increasing responsibility throughout. He started in the pharmaceutical industry as a Clinical Research Associate with Bayer and gained vast experience over the years by moving into various roles which included managing Clinical Operations, Budget and Resource Planning, Outsource Management, and Finance. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Physiology and a Master of Business Administration.
In 2005, he co-founded Ce3 Inc., a niche CRO specializing in providing oncology-focused clinical development services to the biotechnology industry. He led business operations activities and growth of the company which ultimately culminated in the successful sale/merger with Catalyst in 2020. His current responsibilities at Catalyst include Project Finance, Proposals, Contracts, Information Technology, and Corporate Integration and Analytics.
Tim loves spending time with his wife Mary and three children - Cameron, Cassie, and Christo, and his two dogs, Coco and Pepper! He is an outdoor enthusiast and plans his vacations accordingly as well as spending the summer months in the Lakes Region of Maine.
Job Titles:
- Partner at NovaQuest Capital Management
Vern Davenport is Partner at NovaQuest Capital Management and has more than 35 years experience of building and transforming healthcare technology and services companies. He is Investment Committee Member at NovaQuest Private Equity.
Before NovaQuest, Vern was CEO and Board Member at Medfusion. Previously, Vern was Chairman and CEO of Medquist before and after the privatization of the company. He rebranded the company to M*Modal and led the take private process, resulting in the sale to One Equity Partners.
Vern's experience includes President, Allscripts; CEO, Misys Healthcare; GM & EVP, Kodak Health Group (now Carestream Health) and executive leadership roles at Siemens and Shared Medical Systems. He also was at IBM for 11 years, serving in sales leadership and executive management positions.
Vern received an MBA and a BSBA in Business from East Carolina University. He serves on the East Carolina Board of Trustees and the WakeMed Health and Hospitals Boards and has held other board positions.